Kunte wins British chess

Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte annexed the Smith and Williamson British chess championship after settling for a draw with GM Joe Gallagher of Switzerland in the 11th and final round, in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Saturday.

Kunte, who was in sole lead before the commencement of the final game, tallied 8.5 points to finish half a point ahead of compatriot Grandmaster Pendyala Harikrishna, GM Paul Motwani of Scotland and top seeded GM Vassilios Kotronias of Cyprus, who all tied for second place.

It was the second successive time that an Indian won the British championship. International Master R B Ramesh won the crown last year.

However, the Indians may not get another opportunity to play in the tournament in future as the organisers have decided to bar players from non-British nations.

The triumph earned Kunte, who had no major achievement to his credit since turning Grandmaster a few years back, a purse of 10,000 pounds.

Apart from the prize-money, he will also add 19 Elo points to his present rating of 2515.

The fifth place was jointly shared by Women Grandmaster Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan of Georgia, GM Jonathan Rowson of Scotland, Englishmen IM Nicholas Pert and GM Aaron Summerscale and Gallagher, all tallying 7.5 points.

GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly and IM Tejas Bakre finished in the next group of eight players on 7 points.

The women's title went to Arakhamia after she drew her last round game against Bangladesh's Enamul Hossian.

WGM S Vijayalakshmi suffered a setback in the last round when she lost to Abdulla Al-Rakib of Bangladesh in 39 moves.

Ironically Vijayalakshmi, a front runner after the seventh round, could secure just a half point in her last four games, finishing with 6 points.

The last round quite obviously took its toll on other Indians who had little to play for.

GM Dibyendu Barua, GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly, IM S Kidambi were among those who drew their games while Neelotpal Das lost his board.

Amongst the women, S Meenakshi carved out a fine victory over David Adams of England while Aarthie Ramaswamy, Nisha Mohota and Eesha Karavade were all involved in draws.

Playing with black, Kunte had his task cut out, as a draw was sufficient for a shared first place in case Harikrishna also won his game against Rowson.

The opening was a Sicilian Schveningen and Gallagher opted for a near-harmless set up much to the surprise of the Indian. In the ensuing middle game, Kunte only had to play precisely while Gallagher tried to attack first his king and then after not succeeding, the queenside. The Indian got sufficient counterplay after risking a pawn as Gallagher's pieces became relatively inactive.

Gallagher had to part with his central pawn in the final position and the heat might have turned on him had he continued for long. Peace was signed after 41 moves.

Harikrishna was another big gainer, winning about 10 Elo rating points for his performance in the championship.

In the last round he drew with Rowson with black pieces after the latter tried hard to break through. The opening choice by the local player surprised the Indian, who went for a pawn grabbing in the Petroff defence. Harikrishna agreed for a draw after 60 moves.

Final round (Indians unless specified): Joseph Gallagher (7.5, Sui) drew Abhijit Kunte (8.5); Jonathan Rowson (7.5, Sco) drew P Harikrishna (8); Vassilios Kotronias (8, Cyp) beat Ziaur Rahman (7, Ban); Paul Motwani (8) beat Tejas Bakre (7); Enamul Hossain (7, Ban) Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan (7.5, Geo); Ameet Ghasi (7, Eng) drew Surya Sekhar Ganguly (7); Nicholas Pert (7.5, Eng) beat Matthew Turner (6.5, Eng); Peter Wells (6.5, Eng) lost to Aaron Summerscale (7.5, Eng); Stuart Conquest (6.5) drew Sam Collins (6.5, Irl); Stewart Haslinger (6, Eng) lost to Daniel Gormally (7, Eng); Reefat Bin Sattar (6, Ban) lost to David Howell (7); Peter Sowray (7, Eng) beat Neelotpal Das (6); S Vijayalakshmi (6) lost to Abdulla Al-Rakib (6.5); Thomas Rendle (6, Eng) drew Dibyendu Barua (6); Laurence Webb (6, Eng) drew Sundararajan Kidambi (6); Craig Hanley (6, Eng) drew Nisha Mohota (6); Robert Gwaze (5.5, Zim) lost to Gurpreet Pal Singh (6.5); Iain Gorlay (5.5, Sco) drew Aarthie Ramaswamy (5.5); S Meenakshi (5.5) beat David Adams (4.5); Swati Ghate (5) drew Samuel Williams (5, Eng); Thomas Nixon (5, Eng) drew Eesha Karavade (4.5).